For example, in order to receive materials that are to be used in a manufacturing facility such as a factory, and to ship products that have been manufactured, a distribution facility, which is provided along with the manufacturing facility, is used. In such a distribution facility, articles are sorted out on a platform, and are unloaded from a transport vehicle in a state where the transport vehicle is parked on a berth that is provided for the platform. In this regard, considering economic efficiency, it is necessary to improve the operation efficiency of the transport vehicle as much as possible.
To solve such a general problem, JP 562-19929U (Patent Document 1) and JP H4-159926A (Patent Document 2) disclose that a plurality of articles are unloaded all at once in a state where a plurality of articles are placed on one platform member. Also, JP 562-259927A (Patent Document 3), for example, discloses that articles are unloaded all at once in a state where a plurality of pallets, onto which articles are placed, are coupled to each other and integrated as one piece.
A berth of most conventional distribution facilities is provided for a platform such that transport vehicles can be parked in a lengthwise direction as typically shown in Patent Documents 1 to 3. This is because many transport vehicles are configured such that articles can be loaded and unloaded via an opening that is provided in the rear side of the load bed of each vehicle. Meanwhile, in recent years, transport vehicles that are provided with a so-called wing-type load bed and with which articles are loaded and unloaded via an opening that is provided in a lateral side of the load bed thereof are used as well. For such wing-type transport vehicles, a berth is provided along a platform edge of the platform such that transport vehicles can be parked side-on.
In such cases, it is preferable that a transport vehicle that has entered the distribution facility can keep travelling forward, can parked side-on, and then move away after articles have been loaded and unloaded, because this further improves the operation efficiency of the transport vehicle. However, generally, it is not easy to park a transport vehicle side-on on the berth with high positional accuracy. In particular, it is difficult to park a transport vehicle side-on so as to be parallel with the platform edge with almost no gap therebetween while operating a handle to avoid other vehicles stand by, for example. If it takes a long time to park a transport vehicle side-on, the operation efficiency of the transport vehicle decreases.